The Lipscomb University men’s and women’s track and field teams continue to excel this season. Both teams posted more great marks at the Austin Peay Spring Fling meet in Clarksville, Tenn.

Ryan Chastain led the way for the men with a second place finish in the 1500m with a new all-time PR of 4:01.43, and a third place finish in the 3000m with a new all-time PR of 8:58.26. His 3000m time was also a new Lipscomb Men’s Outdoor Track & Field school record.

“It wasn’t an easy double for the guys today,” said head coach Bill Taylor. “We loaded up at this meet with the philosophy of training through it. Ryan’s double was excellent and gave him a taste of what he is capable of. He was less than a second from the 1500m school record as well. Not too bad for a guy training for 5000m.”

Freshman Nathan Brame also had a good double, setting a PR in the 1500m (4:05.50, fifth place) and finishing ninth in the 3000m in a time of 9:04.05, while Jeff Hoover followed suit with great performances and PR’s in the 1500m (4:09.50, 10th) and 3000m (9:03.99, eighth). Other PR’s in the men’s 1500m and/or 3000m:

The women had a great day as well. Caitlin Anderson led four Lipscomb women below 5:00 in the 1500m. Caitlin finished 9th overall with a big new 1500m PR of 4:53.13, then came back to finish 6th in the 3000m with a solid time of 10:39.71. Carolyn Latham ran a big PR in the 1500m as well, winning her heat and finishing 12th overall with a time of 4:58.41, then nearly tying her 3000m PR by finishing fourth overall with a time of 10:27.54.

Louisa Van Batavia posted two big PR’s with a 4:58.76 in the 1500m, finishing second in her heat and 13th overall, then knocking about 33 seconds off her all-time 3000m PR, finishing second in her heat and 10th overall with a time of 10:47.39.

Jenny Randolph was the fourth Lipscomb woman to break 5:00 in the 1500m at the meet, finishing 14th overall in a time of 4:59.75, then doubling back for 11th in the 3000m with a time of 10:50.49.

Another double PR was posted by freshman Catherine Beals who had her best meet of her collegiate career. Catherine dropped 17 seconds off her 1500m PR, finishing 16th overall in a time of 5:03.50, then dropping 20 seconds off her 3000m PR, winning her heat in a time of 10:46.87 to finish eighth overall.

“Last year we didn’t have a single woman break five minutes in the open 1500m all year,” said Taylor. “This year we already have four in the same meet!”

Taylor is especially pleased that so many of his athletes are setting new personal records on a meet-by-meet basis.

“The big PRs keep coming for so many of our athletes,” said Taylor. “Although we had a ton of PR’s today, it was Louisa and Catherine’s turn to take tons of seconds off their times.

“I love how this just keeps building. I love how we are getting heat wins and posting top five finishes in the fast heats. It’s a sign of where we are going. The thing a coach wants more than anything is to get better every week. We are doing that and we are nowhere near what we are capable of yet. We’ll just keep rolling along, building each athlete and this program week by week.”